The Good Wife Wiki
Register
Advertisement


Eli Gold is Peter Florrick's campaign manager and is later appointed as his Chief of Staff. He is also an equity partner at Lockhart/Gardner.

Biography[]

Season 1[]

Peter Florrick hires Eli Gold after the discovery of doctored photos of himself with a prostitute and they work together on his appeal. Once Peter is released and starts another campaign to rerun for States Attorney, Eli now finds himself working with Kya Poole and Daniel Golden. During his release, Eli finds out that Peter is being monitored by the FBI for further corruption while online rumors start to rise about "Saint Alicia" and her failing marriage to Peter. Eli tracks the rumors to Zach Florrick's girlfriend, Becca, and manages to quiet her. To help Peter with the African American votes, he introduces him to Pastor Isaiah Easton but instead of being endorsed, Peter find spiritual guidance instead.

Eli finds out through Peter and Zach that images of their family was anonymously sent to her apartment. He tracks the images to Gerard Kozko who, under Glenn Childs, is testifying against Peter in exchange for immunity. Soon after, Kozko commits suicide but after some digging with lawyer Elsbeth Tascioni, Eli discovers that the suicide was faked, thus allowing Peter to be free from the ankle monitor. Additionally, he meets with FBI Agent Lana Delaney and manages to dissuade them from further monitoring of Peter and his family through blackmail.

Eli finds himself saving Alicia from being let go by bringing his campaigning business to the firm, allowing her to beat Cary in being hired on as 1st year. At the end of the season, Eli deletes a voicemail from Alicia's phone to prevent her from ruining Peter's election as the States Attorney. His relationship with Jackie Florrick is somewhat rocky due to the fact that he would often bar her from interrupting the campaign with menial and petty actions; however, Jackie finds him to be a professional upon realizing that he will take her son far.

Personality[]

Eli is Jewish, though he does not appear to be particularly religious. He is separated from his wife, Vanessa Gold, and has a daughter, Marissa, who is similarly outspoken and shares a fairly healthy relationship with him.

His style of management is to be blunt and often rude. He has a brief shot at romance with Natalie Flores, a student who worked in the past as a nanny for Wendy Scott-Carr. Eli leaks details to the press of Natalie's family's status as illegal immigrants, but as he comes to know her he is seen to regret this and later helps her get a job as an intern at Lockhart & Gardner.

Background[]

Portrayed by actor Alan Cumming, Eli Gold is modelled after Chicago politician Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff of President Barack Obama. He was promoted to the main cast in Season 2. Eli Gold is charismatic and brilliant.

Quotes[]

"The only bad people to have in your life are teachers. I'd trust assassins over teachers" - SE06E10

References[]

Advertisement